Format Flash Drive in Windows 11 in Just a Few Clicks

[@NorthernVikingEveryday]

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[@Launcelot4077th]

Hi Viking! Thanks for your simplicity of instructions on your videos - for someone like me, it's greatly appreciated!! :-) So I left this comment on another one of your videos as well - thought this might be something different.: Hello! Thanks for this video, easy to follow, even for a techy challenged person like me. However, it still didn't work for what I am trying to do, and perhaps I am going about this all wrong. So, what I am trying to do, is put videos on a thumb drive that will work on my DVD player (that has a slot for a thumb drive). I am compiling music vids, would like to pull a variety of different episodes from my DVDs, onto a thumb drive, so I have more variety, and it can run longer than a DVD would - I just can't get it to work with videos (MP3s play just fine), any suggestions? After following your video, and giving it a shot in the player, said something along the lines of, "This USB device is not supported. And you're a horrible cook." Like I said, I am NOT techy at all, so the more basic your answer, the better it will work for me. Advice? Do I need a program to do this? No doubt this is second nature for some of you guys, where I am still trying to figure out how to work my VCR. Kidding. :-) I actually used to do with VHS tapes what I am trying to do with a thumb drive / DVD player, but no doubt the latter is much easier (I hope) and far less time consuming. Thanks!

[@zippy7628]

Hopefully quick question. formatting a thumb drive is it necessary? im looking to take pictures off my comp and put them on a thumb drive for safe storage. my disc drive on my current 9 year old comp has died again and instead of replacing it i was just going to hook up a new one (3 year old still in the box) i have here. i get that if i format the drive i lose everything on it what im wondering is if i format it on this comp before i put my pics on it will i need to format it to the new comp or will it work just fine without formatting it to the new comp? please forgive me im kinda computer dumb and generally just muttle my way through getting stuff done so when i can i try to ask question before i blow stuff up lol. thank you for any response.

[@NorthernVikingEveryday]

Some thumb drives come pre-formatted so you don't need to do anything. If it is a Windows PC your file should show up on the second computer without any problem.

[@zippy7628]

@@NorthernVikingEveryday thank you very much

[@BIGWojo68]

Oh man thank you so much! i just upgraded to Windows 11 and i have no idea where anything is.

[@NorthernVikingEveryday]

You're very welcome 🤗 Glad I could help.

[@serv5000]

Hello @Northern Viking Everyday, I have the most recent Windows 11 and I don't seem to have FAT32 which is what I was familiar with and it made transferring anything from pics to music very easy, but now I only see ExFAT and NTFS and when I use these format functions I can never get the music or pics to play when done even though it shows that it's on the USB Drive. I also try to play the music from the USB Drive in my car and it says can't read. I have old USB's that I have with music and the play fine when I formatted with FAT32. Any advice or any way to change Windows back to FAT32?

[@SpiritintheSky.]

Useful video but I'm surprised at the lack of response to comments below, especially serv5000, who has a problem similar to mine. I'm running up-to-date (Dec. '23) Windows 11. File System is a choice of NTFS (unknown to me) and exFAT (default). Allocation Unit Size has either Default Allocation Size or a long range of settings from 4096 bytes to 32,768 Kb. However, at first the latter was displaying an incredible 128Kb, even though the Sandisk Cruzer flash drive is 64Kb (or "Capacity" of 59Kb). Below, the fourth option is Restore Device Defaults, which I chose for lack of anything better. Whether that is acceptable, I've no idea; and I certainly don't know whether it cope with the music and pictures serv5000 is concerned about. Fortunately, in my case, I don't need that capability. Any chance, please, of you addressing my and serv5000's concerns?

[@zhugeliang3905]

Can’t you just delete all the files?

[@NorthernVikingEveryday]

If you are just getting rid of the files then yes. However, formatting a flash drive is the best way to prepare the USB drive for use by a computer. It creates a filing system that organizes your data while freeing more space to allow for additional storage. This ultimately optimizes the performance of your flash drive.

[@zhugeliang3905]

@@NorthernVikingEveryday Thank you for the insight. Where do the files go after they have been deleted? Do they still occupy space in the USB, say in the recycle bin?

[@NorthernVikingEveryday]

That is a good question and I'm not 100% sure. It is possible that they are there until overwritten by another file.

[@zakop999]

Mine doesn't even show up

[@sugarstea]

Mine too I need help with that part.

[@universalshorts412]

How do you use the other flash drive